The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth from 1961 through the present. Found below are several different methods to search through our database.

Search by Geographical Feature

If you have a particular feature in mind, use the "Search by Geographical Feature" tool to enter the feature name. Search with a city name, geological feature (mountain, volcano, ocean), or other similar features. You may also narrow down your search by specifying the region of the feature of interest. If you have further filtering needs, expand the "Advanced Search Options" section to narrow your search.

Search Using I4 Tool

The ISS Instrument Integration Interface (I4) is a powerful tool integrating data from the Crew Earth Observations, Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean, and the Sally Ride EarthKAM. This data can be searched through the interactive map or via the text based search. All data records point back to the original data provider whenever possible so you can get the original data products.

Search by Map Area

Use the map below to search for an image within a defined area. If you know the area you would like to search, simply pan around in the map to find it. If you need to search for a city or place name, use the search box at the top of the map to help you locate the area. Once you have found the area, click in the map to draw your search box. You may increase or decrease the size of the box and move the search box by clicking and dragging. Once you have defined your search box, click "Search Images in Drawn Box on Map".

Mission:

Include cataloged with center pointInclude cataloged with no center pointInclude not cataloged

Search Using Other Methods

The two search options below are more advanced, and for the user that has specific criteria in mind when searching through the astronaut photography database.

Both all cataloged and not catalogedCataloged with center point
Cataloged without a center point
Not cataloged
Has a caption

Enter one or several NASA IDs in Mission-Roll-Frame format e.g. ISS039-E-12345, separated
by line breaks and/or spaces, no more than 100. You can specify frame ranges by using
Mission-Roll-Frame1-Frame2 e.g. ISS039-E-1000-2000.
You can specify all frames for a roll by leaving off the frame part e.g. STS110-740.
You can specify all images in a mission by leaving off the roll and frame portions of the ID e.g. ISS001.
You can find a list of missions at this link and in the selection list for the map on this page.

Only list frames for the specified mission(s) in each database table.
The options above and any rolls and frames used in the search box are ignored when using this option.
Display frame numbers using ranges.
Display frame numbers individually. These only apply if the Only list... checkbox is checked.

Using this search feature allows you to search database for astronaut photography that has not yet been cataloged. When an image is cataloged, the image center point is identified with a latitude and longitude, along with features seen in the photograph and a percentage of cloud cover. While there is a large portion of our database that is cataloged, there is also a portion that has not yet been cataloged.

There are several ways to use this search feature. You may search by one or several of the options below to narrow down your search. The more data fields you fill in, the more specific your search will be.

Mission/Expedition Number: Insert mission number with ISS at beginning of query. For example, searching for Expedition 40 will be "ISS040".
A List of missions is at this link and in the selection list for the map on this page.

Photo Start Date (YYYYMMDD): Photo End Date (YYYYMMDD): If the start date is filled in and the end date is left blank, then only photos on the start date will be returned.

Photo Start Time (HHMMSS): Photo End Time (HHMMSS): Both start and end times must be filled in if either is filled in.